Garment pressing machine



July 21, 1942. R, J, BEEDE ETAL 2,290,267

GARMENT PRESSING MACHINE .fa if 6 yd 65' @m9727075 July 21', 1942- I R. J. BEEDE Yl-:T AL 2,290,267

GARMENT PRESS ING MACHINE Filed Aug. 26, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 21, 1942 UTE STTES PATENT GFFICE GARMENT PRESSING MACHINE Application August 26, 1938, Serial No. 226,884

8 Claims.

Oupr invention relates to improvements in exible means for circulating steam through the movable pressing head of a garment pressing machine. This application is a continuation in part of our co-pending application, S. N. 124,840, filed February 9, 1937, for Garment pressing machines.

It has been suggested that exible tubing would be a desirable steam inlet means for connecting the steam inlet pipe on the frame of the machine to the movable pressing head and also suitable steam outlet means for removing the steam and condensate from the movable pressing head. Attempts in the prior art to employ flexible tubing have met with failure due to the difculty of attaching the ends of the exible tubing to the pipe on the frame and the movable pressing head simultaneously Without relatively rotating said tubing, which has tended to twist, distort and fracture the tubing so that the thought of using exible tubing has been practically discarded in the art and it has remained for our invention to make this type of flexible tubing commercially practical in this connection.

Further features of our invention relate to the specific combination shown, namely, that the flexible tubing is mounted on the pressing machine not only without twisting during its initial or repeated installation but in a vertical plane so that it will positively not twist or be subjected to any strain in use. For this purpose We redesign the machine to bring the cooperating coupling means on the vertically moving pressing head in verticalalignment with the cooperating coupling means on the frame of the machine so that the tubing may gently ex in a single vertical plane without any torsion in use.

A further .object of our invention is t provide a device in which one of the frame or pressing head pipe coupling means is adjustable in a vertical plane only to permit the use of different respective lengths of tubing on the same machine for diierent sized heads Without axial kinking pressing on said tubing. This permits the tubing to be exactly aligned after the head or buck has been refinished or a dierent sized or shaped head or buck inserted. The same frame may therefore be employed for a variety of diierent types of pressing heads and bucks for different purposes in dry cleaning and laundry use.

Further features of our invention relate to improvements in the speciiic structure shown for accomplishing the aforesaid results.

These and such'other objects of our invention as may hereinafter appear will be best understood from a description of the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an embodiment thereof.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic end elevation of portions of a garment pressing machine with my invention attached.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 showing the cooperating coupling means with the exible tubing attached.

Fig. 3 is a disassembled plan view of the cooperating coupling means we preferably employ to non-rotatably secure the ends of the flexible tubing to either the movable pressing head or the pipe means mounted on the frame.

Fig. 4 is a plan View of portions of a garment pressing machine with our invention attached.

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective View of the vertically adjustable bracket we preferably employ for mounting the pipe means and lower end of the flexible tubing on the frame of the machine.

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view showing the type of means we employ on the vertically adjustable bracket for securing the lower end of the flexible tubing to the pipe coupling means on the frame of the machine.

In the drawings, wherein like characters of reference generally indicate like parts throughout, 20 generally indicates a frame of a' garment pressing machine having the stationary pressing buck 22 mounted on a portionrthereof as usual. Said garment pressing machine is also provided with the usual hollow movable pressing head 24 pivotally mounted on said frame. In the preferred embodiment shown, however, and a construction to which our invention particularly relates, the pressing lever 26 is pivotally mounted on the frame as usual but the hollow movable pressing head 24 isvpreferably pivotally instead of rigidly mounted on the end of said lever by means of the aligning mechanism 21 permitting the movable pressing head 24 to be pivotally movable in aligned relatively tilted pressing positions over said buck as shown so as to permit one edge of the garment alone to be pressed if desired. It is apparent that if the aligning mechanism 21 be employed, there is even a greater amount of tilting movement of the movable pressing head 24 than otherwise and that if ilexible tubing steam inlet and outlet means be employed, they are subjected to relatively greater wear than if the movable pressing head Were rigidly mounted on the end of the pressing lever 26.

As stated hitherto, the use of flexible metallic tubing in general, including the type comprising a continuous overlapping metallic strip 3| helically wound around a hollow thin bendable metal core 33 preferably one provided with an intermediate braided metal covering 35, has been discarded in pressing machines due to the fact that it has been impossible to attach both ends of such flexible tubing to the pipe 28 on the frame and the movable pressing head 24 without relatively twisting one portion of said tubing, which has tended so to fracture and weaken it that its life is very short. Our invention particularly relates to means to non-rotatably or nontwistably connect each end of such a flexible tubing for steam inlet or steam outlet purposes or both in a single tube to the respective pipe 28 and movable pressing head 24 without relative twisting movement of any portion of said flexible tubing means and for this purpose, we have provided pipe coupling means 32 connected to said frame pipe 23 rigidly mounted on said frame 28 and we have provided pipe coupling means 34 mounted on and connected to the movable pressing head 24 to move therewith and we have provided supplemental complementary pipe coupling means 35 and 38 on each respective end of said flexible tubing means to tightly ,3

connect said flexible tubing means to said frame pipe coupling means 32 and to said hollow movable pressing head pipe coupling means 34 respectively without relative twisting movement of any portion of said flexible tubing means 33. The :3V

cooperating coupling means 34-38 for connecting one end of the flexible tubing to the movable pressing head 24 are identical to the cooperating coupling means 32-35 for connecting the other end of the flexible tubing means to the frame pipe 28, whether they be connected directly to the movable pressing head by formation of the coupling means 34 as an integral part thereof, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, or indirectly to said pressing head through the medium of pipe extensions. A sectional view of the cooperating coupling means 32-38 for connecting the lower end of the inlet flexible tubing means to the frame pipe 28 is shown in Fig. 6. For this purpose a T-coupling is rigidly mounted on a portion of the frame 2D, such as by the bolts 42, and the pipe coupling means 32 is integrally formed on a T-arm of said T-coupling, the cooperating coupling means 36 being mounted on the adjacent end of the flexible tubing means 30. A plug 43 is inserted in the opposite T-arm 44 of said T-coupling 40 and the steam inlet pipe 28 is connected to the T-leg 48 of said T-coupling 40, and the end of the steam outlet pipe 33h mounted on the frame may be connected by a similar connection 4U as shown for the inlet pipe 30a.

The cooperating coupling means in all embodiments may comprise gasket means 59 as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 6 and cooperating male and female pipe coupling means 38 and 34 respectively, the female coupling means 34 as shown in Fig. 2 being formed integral with said movable pressing head having a conduit hole 52 having an enlarged bore 54 surrounding said conduit hole containing the gasket if employed and the male coupling means also having a conduit hole 55 and anannular male lip 58 projecting therefrom substantially concentric with said conduit hole 58 compressing said gasket means 50 within said female bore 54. It is obvious that if desired the male projecting lip 58 may be formed on the coupling 34 and the female bore 54 may be formed on the coupling 38. One of said coupling means, in the embodiment shown, the coupling means 38 provided with the projecting male lip 58, is provided with an enlarged socket 60 having a smooth inner surface concentric with its respective conduit hole 55 for nonrotative reception of one end of said flexible tubing means, said end being rigidly brazed within said socket 60 as at 62. We preferably braze not only the end of the outer strip 3| and braided covering 35 of the flexible tubing socket 63 as at 62, but also braze the end of the metal core 33 within said socket 60 as at Gl to nontwistably secure all parts of the flexible tubing within said socket. Said respective male and female means 34 and 38 are provided with cooperating aligned threaded means on opposite sides thereof radially of the respective aligned conduit holes 52 and 55 to threadedly tightly connect said male and female coupling means together, compressing the gasket or washer 5i] within the bore 54. In the preferred embodiment shown for this purpose, each coupling means 34 and 38 is provided with diametric radially projecting attaching flanges 84 and 66 respectively having the respective holes 68 and lil therein, the holes 6B in the inner coupling members being threaded and the holes 10 in the outer coupling members being larger and non-threaded, whereby the headed screws 12 may be threaded within said inner flange holes 68, project outwardly through said outer flange holes 10 and have the heads 74 clamp the flanges 66 against the flanges 64, although it is obvious that any suitable type of cooperating aligned threaded means may be employed for connecting the coupling `means 34 and 38 together. It is thus obvious that the ends of the flexible tubing 3U may be readily inserted and brazed Within the sockets 60 therefor in such a manner that the flanges 66 may be aligned with the flanges 54 without any twisting movement of the flexible tubing. Any suitable type of coupling means to non-rotatably secure an end of the flexible tubing to the movable pressing head 24 or frame pipe 28 may be alternatively employed.

As stated hitherto, either a single combination inlet and outlet flexible tube 30, as shown in said application, may be employed or a separate inlet tube 38a and a separate outlet tube 38b may be employed, in which case the cooperating coupling means 34 and 38 therefor are identical as heretofore described, whether the coupling means 34 be integrally formed on the movable pressing head 34, or on pipe extensions therefrom.

As stated hitherto, in our analysis of Why the former attempts to employ flexible tubing in the prior art were unsuccessful, we discovered that it was not only necessary to attach the portions of the coupling means to each end of the tubing without twisting the tubing during its repeated attachment but that it was also necessary to mount the tubing on the pressing machine in such a manner as to escape torsion in use. It was first necessary to nd out the reason for the lack of success in the prior art structures, then redesign the coupling means for each end of the tubing, then redesign the entire machine to bring the cooperating coupling means on the vertically movable pressing head in vertical alignment with the cooperating coupling means on the frame of the machine for each piece of tubing to permit it to gently ex in a single vertical plane without any torsion in use as shown in Fig. 4. y

We also found that the use of different shaped heads or bucks on the same machine different lengths of tubing were necessary, and for this purpose we have 'provided means 80 adjustable in a vertical plane only to permit the use of diiferent respective lengths of tubing on the same machine for different sized heads or bucks without axial kinking pressure on said tubing in use, and as such means in our preferred embodiment we have provided a bracket 80 mounted on said frame to be adjustable in a vertical direction only having the pipe coupling means 32 mounted thereon and a cooperating pipe coupling means non-rotatably mounted thereon. For this purpose the bracket 80 is provided with vertlcal slots 82 and 84 adapted to receive the screws 36 and 88 threaded into the adjacent portion 90 of the machine frame so that on mere loosening of said screws said bracket 80 may be adjustable in a single vertical direction only. The frame portion 90 is preferably provided with a vertical rib 92 adapted to register in a vertical channel S4 in the bracket 80 for this purpose. It is thus obvious that on a change in the size of pressing head or buck on the machine the bracket 80 may be vertically adjusted on loosening the screws 86 and 88 to accommodate the flexible tubing 30 of the exact size required to gently flex after the new buck or head has been attached to the machine without axial kinking pressure on said tubing in use. As shown in Fig. 4 it will be noted that the coupling means 34 on the pressing head 24 is in the exact vertical plane with the coupling means 32 on the frame 20 so that respective coupling means 38 and 36 on the respective upper and lower ends of said tubing may be attached to their cooperating coupling means 34 and 32 on the pressing head and frame respectively so that said tubing 30 flexes in a vertical plane, whether two pieces of tubing 33a, and 3b be respectively employed as the inlet or outlet as shown in this application or a single piece of iiexible tubing be employed as the combined inlet and outlet as shown in said co-pending application. Thus the parts are so arranged on the machine that the flexible tubing may only bend in a single vertical plane in use without any twisting action thereon and one end thereof may be vertically adjustable in a single vertical plane only.

It is thus obvious that we have provided a novel type of flexible means for circulating steam through the movable pressing head of a garment pressing machine with the advantages explained above.

As is usual in the art the pressing head may not only contain a steam heating chamber but also a steam distribution chamber provided with a foraminous plate for injecting steam into the garment being pressed and certain types of pressing machines are made omitting one or the other of these steam chambers, and I therefore employ the word pressing head in the claims to include a pressing head having a steam heating chamber and/or a steam distribution chamber.

It is understood that our invention is not limited to the specific embodiment shown and that various deviations may be made therefrom without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1, In a garment pressing machine having a frame, a stationary pressing buck mounted therein, a pressing lever pivotally mounted on said frame, a hollow movable pressing head mounted on the end of said pressing lever to be movable into pressing position over said buck, non-rotatable pipe coupling means mounted on said frame and pipe coupling means mounted and connected to the hollow interior of said movable pressing head, said pipe coupling means being each mounted in a single plane at right angles to the axis of said movable pressing lever, each of said pipe coupling means having a ilat outer surface having aligned diametric holes, flexible metallic tubing means interposed between said non-rotatable pipe coupling means and said hollow movable pressing head pipe coupling means to flex in said single plane only to permit free pivotal movement of Said pressing head on said frame, supplemental complementary pipe coupling means on each respective end of said flexible metallic tubing means to repeatedly tightly conneet the ends of said flexible metallic tubing means to said movable pressing head pipe coupling means and said non-rotatable pipe coupling means without relative twisting movement of any portion of said flexible metallic tubing means, having a flat outer surface adapted to abut the respective at outer surface of said frame and head pipe coupling means, having similarly aligned diametric holes, each set of said cooperating coupling means comprising cooperating intertting male and female pipe coupling means each having conduit hole means and means extending through said aligned holes movable through said holes in directions parallel to the plane of said flexible metallic tubing only to tightly connect the flat surface of said male and female pipe coupling means together, one of each of said complementary pipe coupling means having a smooth socket connected with its respective conduit hole having all portions of its respective end of said flexible metallic tubing means rigidly mounted therein.

2. In a garment pressing machine having a frame, a stationary pressing buck mounted thereon, a pressing lever pivotally mounted on said frame, a hollow movable pressing head mounted on the end of said pressing lever to be movable into pressing position over said buck, non-rotatable pipe coupling means mounted on said frame and pipe coupling means mounted on and connected to the hollow interior of said movable pressing head, said pipe coupling means being each mounted in a single plane at right vangles the axis of said movable pressing lever,

each of said pipe coupling means having a flat outer surface having aligned diametric holes, flexible metallic tubing means interposed between said non-rotatable pipe coupling means and said hollow movable pressing head pipe coupling means to flex in said single plane only to permit free pivotal movement of said pressing head on said frame, supplemental complementary pipe coupling means on each respective end of said flexible metallic tubing means to repeatedly tightly connect the ends of said flexible metallic tubing means to said movable pressing head pipe coupling means and said non-rotatable pipe coupling means without relative twisting movement of any portion of said flexible metallic tubing means, having a flat outer surface adapted t0 abut the respective flat outer surface of said frame and head pipe coupling means, having similarly aligned diametric holes,

each set of said cooperating coupling means having conduit hole means and means extending through said aligned holes movable through said holes in directions parallel to the plane of said fiexible metallic tubing only to repeatedly tightly connect the flat surfaces of said cooperating pipe coupling means together, one of each of said cooperating pipe coupling means having a smooth socket connected with its respective conduit hole having all portions of its respective end of said ilexible metallic tubing means rigidly mounted therein.

3. In a garment pressing machine having a frame, a stationary pressing buck mounted thereon, a pressing lever pivotally mounted on said frame, a hollow movable pressing head mounted on the end of said pressing lever to be movable into pressing position over said buck, non-rotatable pipe coupling means mounted on said frame and pipe coupling means mounted on and connected to the hollow interior of said movable pressing head, said pipe coupling means being each mounted in a single plane at right angles to the axis of said movable pressing lever, exible metallic tubing means interposed between said non-rotatable coupling means and said hollow movable pressing head pipe coupling means to flex in said single plane only to permit free pivotal movement of said pressing head on said frame, supplemental complementary pipe coupling means on each respective end of said flexible metallic tubing means connecting the ends of said flexible metallic tubing means to said movable pressing head pipe coupling means and said non-rotatable frame pipe coupling means without relative twisting movement of any portion of said exible metallic tubing means, one of said frame and head pipe coupling means being adjustable in said single plane only to permit the use of different respective lengths of flexible metallic tubing on the same machine or different sized heads without axial kinking pressure on said flexible metallic tubing.

4. In a garment pressing machine having a frame, a stationary pressing buck mounted thereon, a pressing lever pivotally mounted on said frame, a hollow movable pressing head mounted on the end of said pressing lever to be movable into pressing position over said buck, non-rotatable pipe coupling means mounted on said frame and pipe coupling means mounted on and connected to the hollow interior of said movable pressing head, said pipe coupling means being each mounted in a single plane at right angles to the axis of said movable pressing lever, flexible metallic tubing means interposed between said non-rotatable coupling means and said hollow movable pressing head pipe coupling means to flex in said single plane only to permit free pivotal movement of said pressing head on said frame, supplemental complementary pipe coupling means on each respective end of said flexible metallic tubing means connecting the ends of said flexible metallic tubing means to said movable pressing head pipe coupling means and said non-rotatable frame pipe coupling means without relative twisting movement of any portion of said flexible metallic tubing meanss said frame pipe coupling means being adjustable in said single plane only to permit the use of different respective lengths of flexible metallic tubing on the same machine or different sized heads without axial kinking pressure on said flexible metallic tubing.

5. In a garment pressing machine having a frame, a stationary pressing buck mounted thereon, a pressing lever pivotally mounted on said frame, a hollow movable pressing head mounted on the end of said pressing lever to be movable into pressing position over said buck, a bracket mounted on said machine to be adjustable in a single plane at right angles to the axis of said pressing lever, having pipe coupling means rigidly non-rotatably mounted thereon and pipe coupling means mounted on and connected to the hollow interior of said movable pressing head, said pipe coupling means being each mounted in said single plane at right angles to the axis of said movable pressing lever, flexible metallic tubing means interposed between said non-rotatable coupling means to flex in said single plane only to permit free pivotal movement of said pressing head on said frame and supplemental complementary pipe coupling means on each respective end of said flexible metallic tubing means connecting the ends of said flexible metallic tubing means to said movable pressing head pipe coupling means and said non-rotatable frame pipe coupling means without relative twisting movement of any portion of said flexible metallic tubing means.

6. In a garment pressing machine having a frame, a stationary pressing buck mounted thereon, a pressing lever pivotally mounted on said frame, a hollow movable pressing head mounted on the end of said pressing lever to be movable into pressing position over said buck, non-rotatable pipe coupling means mounted on said frame and pipe coupling means mounted on and connected to the hollow interior of said movable pressing head, said pipe coupling means being each mounted in a single plane at right angles to the axis of said movable pressing lever, exible metallic tubing means interposed between said non-rotatable coupling means and said hollow movable pressing head pipe coupling means to flex in said single plane only to permit pivotal movement of said pressing head on said frame, supplemental complementary pipe coupling means on each respective end of said flexible metallic tubing means connecting the ends of said exible metallic tubing means to said movable pressing head pipe coupling means and said non-rotatable frame pipe coupling means with all portions of said flexible metallic tubing means in a set connected non-twisted condition, each supplemental pipe coupling means having a socket receiving an end of said flexible metallic tubing means to maintain the respective end portion of said iiexible metallic tubing means rigid and permitting the flexing thereof only between said rigid end portions, said flexible metallic tubing means being of such a length and so disposed as to flex throughout the length thereof on an arc greater than its critical breaking arc and less than its own length, one of said frame and head pipe coupling means being adjustable in said single plane only to permit the use of the same length or different respective lengths of flexible metallic tubing means on the same machine with different sized heads without axial kinking pressure on said ilexible metallic tubing means.

'7. In a garment pressing machine having a frame, a stationary pressing buck mounted thereon, a pressing lever pivotally mounted on said frame, a hollow movable pressing head mounted on the end of said pressing lever to be movable into pressing position over said buck, non-rotatable pipe coupling means mounted on said frame and pipe coupling means mounted on and connected to the hollow interior of said movable pressing head, each of said pipe coupling means having a flat outer surface having aligned diametric holes, flexible metallic tubing means interposed between said non-rotatable pipe coupling means and said hollow movable pressing head pipe coupling means to ex to permit free pivotal movement of said pressing head on said frame, supplemental complementary pipe coupling means on each respective end of said flexible metallic tubing means to repeatedly tightly connectl the ends of said flexible metallic tubing means to said movable pressing head pipe coupling means and said non-rotatable pipe coupling means without relative twisting movement of any portion of said flexible metallic tubing means, having a flat outer surface adapted to abut the respective ilat outer surface of said frame and head pipe coupling means, having similarly aligned diametric holes, each set of said cooperating coupling means comprising cooperating interitting cylindrical male and female pipe coupling means each having conduit hole means and means extending through said aligned holes movable through said holes in directions parallel to the ends of said flexible metallic tubing only to tightly connect the flat surfaces of said male and female pipe coupling means together, one of each of said complementary pipe coupling means having a smooth socket connected with its respective conduit hole having its respective end of said flexible metallic tubing means rigidly mounted therein.

8. In a garment pressing machine having a frame, a stationary pressing buck mounted thereon, a pressing lever pivotally mounted on said frame, a hollow movable pressing head mounted on the end of said pressing lever to be movable into pressing position over said buck, non-rotatable pipe coupling means mounted on said frame and pipe coupling means mounted on and connected to the hollow interior of said movable pressing head, each of said pipe coupling means having a at outer surface having aligned diametric holes, iiexible metallic tubing means interposed between said non-rotatable pipe coupling means and said hollow movable pressing head pipe coupling means to flex to permit free pivotal movement of said pressing head on said frame, supplemental -complementary pipe coupling means on each respective end of said flexible metallic tubing means to repeatedly tightly connect the ends of said flexible metallic tubing means to said movable pressing head pipe coupling means and said non-rotatable pipe coupling means without relative twisting movement of any portion of said flexible metallic tubing means, having a flat outer surface adapted to abut the respective at outer surface of said frame and head pipe coupling means, having similarly aligned diametric holes, each set of said cooperating coupling means having conduit hole means and means extending through said aligned holes movable through said holes in directions parallel to the ends of said flexible metallic tubing only to repeatedly tightly connect the flat surfaces of said cooperating pipe coupling means together, one of each of said cooperating pipe coupling means having a smooth socket connected with its respective conduit hole having its respective end of said flexible metallic tubing means rigidly mounted therein.

ROBERT J. BEEDE. NICHOLAS MONSARRAT. 

